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Judge calls recess in Golden Dawn trial during scuffles

The head judge in the trial into the alleged criminal activities of far-right Golden Dawn had to suspend proceedings on Tuesday morning after scuffles broke out between party supporters and anti-fascist activists.

This was the second day that judges had to keep a lid on tensions inside and outside the Athens Court of Appeals prompted by the testimony of a unionist claiming that he and a group of around 20 fellow activists were violently attacked in September 2013 by around 50 Golden Dawn members and supporters.

On Monday, self-styled anarchists and anti-fascist activists threw projectiles at Golden Dawn supporters gathered outside the courthouse on Alexandras Avenue and also clashed with riot police.

Testifying to the court on Monday, the head of the Attica Metalworkers’ Union, Sotiris Poulikoyiannis, suggested that the attack against the Communist-affiliated PAME activists was carried out by GD members acting on behalf of business interests looking to weaken the union’s hold over the ship repair industry in the port of Perama, a suburb of Piraeus.

The trial against Golden Dawn was prompted by the murder in Piraeus of rapper Pavlos Fyssas by a self-confessed party member a few days after the alleged attack on the PAME activists.